SNAKE - D H Lawrence

 SNAKE – D H Lawrence

 

A snake came to my water-trough

On a hot, hot day, and I in pyjamas for the heat,

To drink there.

 

In the deep, strange-scented shade of the great dark carob-tree

I came down the steps with my pitcher

And must wait, stand and wait, for there he was at 

the trough before me.

 

He reached down from a fissure in the earth-wall in 

the gloom

And trailed his yellow-brown slackness soft-bellied down,

over the edge of the stone trough

And rested his throat upon the stone bottom,

And where the water had dripped from the tap,

in a small clearness,

He sipped with his straight mouth,

Softly drank through his straight gums, into his slack

long body,

Silently.

 

Someone was before me at my water-trough,

And I, like a second comer, waiting.

 

He lifted his head from his drinking, as cattle do,

And looked at me vaguely, as drinking cattle do,

And flickered his two-forked tongue from his lips,

and mused a moment,

And stooped and drank a little more,

Being earth-brown, earth-golden from the burning

bowels of the earth,

On the day of Sicilian July, with Etna smoking.

 

The voice of my education said to me 

He must be killed,

For in Sicily the black, black snakes are innocent,

the gold are venomous.

And voices in me said, If you were a man

You would take a stick and break him now, and finish him off.

 

But must I confess how I liked him,

How glad I was he had come like a guest in quiet,

to drink at my water-trough

And depart peaceful, pacified, and thankless,

Into the burning bowels of this earth?

 

Was it cowardice, that I dared not kill him?

Was it perversity, that I longed to talk to him?

Was it humility, to feel so honoured?

I I felt so honoured.

 

And yet those voices;

If you were not afraid, you would kill him!

 

And truly I was afraid, I was most afraid,

But even so, honoured still more

That he should seek my hospitality

From out the dark door of the secret earth.

 

He drank enough

And lifted his head, dreamily, as one who has drunken,

And flickered his tongue like a forked night on the air,

so black,

Seeming to lick his lips,

And looked around like a god, unseeing into the air,

 

And slowly turned his head,

And slowly, very slowly, as if thrice adream,

Proceeded to draw his slow length curving round

And climb again the broken bank of my wall-face.

 

And as he put his head into that dreadful hole,

And as he slowly drew up, snake-easing his shoulders,

and entered farther,

A sort of horror, a sort of protest against is withdrawing

into that horrid black hole,

Deliberately going into the blackness, and slowly drawing

himself after,

Overcame me now his back was turned.

 

I looked round, I put down my pitcher,

I picked up a clumsy log

And threw it at the water-trough with a clatter.

 

 

I think it did not hit him,

But suddenly that part of him that was left behind

convulsed in undignified haste,

Writhed like lightning and was gone

Into the black hole, the earth-lipped fissure in the wall-front,

At which, in the intense still noon, I stared with fascination.

 

And immediately I regretted it.

I thought how paltry, how vulgar, what a mean act!

I despised myself and the voices of my accursed

human education.

 

 

And I thought of the albatross,

And I wished he would come back, my snake.

 

For e seemed to me again like a king,

Like a king in exile, uncrowned in the underworld,

Now due to be crowned again,

And so, I missed my chance with one of the lords

Of life.

And I have something to expiate;

A pettiness.

 

 

 

Taormina

 

 

 

 

 SNAKE – D.H. LAWRENCE

 

D.H. Lawrence’s poem “Snake” is complex and evocative piece that explores themes of human nature, respect for nature, and the conflict between intellect and instinct. The poem is written in first person and describes an encounter between speaker and a snake that comes to drink at the speaker’s water trough. The speaker is initially dilled with conflicting emotions of fear and fascination as they observe the snake.

 

Throughout the poem, Lawrence delves into the speaker’s thoughts and emotions, highlighting their internal struggle between the fear instilled by societal norms and the instinctual respect for nature and its creatures. The snake is depicted as majestic and ancient creature, embodying a sense of primordial wisdom and natural rhythm.

 

The turning point of the poem occurs when the speaker decides to act on their instincts and not succumb to the fear-driven impulse to kill the snake. Instead, the speaker allows the snake to drink peacefully and even consider it a kind of honoured guest. This choice represents a moment of revelation for the speaker, as they come to realize the beauty and significance of coexisting with nature without trying to dominate or destroy it. 

 

The poem concludes with a sense of regret and longing as the snake slowly retreats into the undergrowth. The speaker reflects on their own inability to fully embrace their instinctual connection with nature due to societal constraints and the conditioning of civilization.

 

In summary, “Snake” by D.H. Lawrence is a reflective and introspective poem that uses the encounter with a snake as a metaphor for exploring the tension between human intellect and primal instincts, as well as the desire to find harmony with the natural world. 

 

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